Breathing exercises serve as a valuable complementary approach to sleep apnea management alongside medical treatment (CPAP, dental appliances, or surgery). They cannot replace these primary treatments but can improve outcomes by strengthening the muscles that keep the airway open, establishing nasal breathing habits, and improving overall respiratory function. Several studies show meaningful reductions in apnea severity when breathing exercises are added to standard treatment.
Nasal breathing retraining is particularly important for sleep apnea. Mouth breathing during sleep collapses the airway more readily than nasal breathing. Establishing habitual nasal breathing through daytime breathing practice and, if needed, mouth taping at night, can reduce apnea events by keeping the airway more structurally stable. Buteyko breathing exercises are specifically designed for this purpose.
Oropharyngeal exercises (exercises targeting the tongue, soft palate, and throat muscles) combined with breathing practice can reduce obstructive sleep apnea severity by 30-50% in some studies. While these are not traditional breathing exercises, they share the same principle: strengthening and retraining the muscles involved in respiration to maintain airway patency during sleep.